United Airlines Thinks Dog Would Rather Take A Trip To Ireland Than Fly To Phoenix

While plenty of people would love the chance to visit Ireland, land of at least four green fields and a rich cultural history, maybe sending a six-year-old dog on his own to the Emerald Isle isn’t a great idea. Especially when United Airlines was supposed to send the pooch, Hendrix, from Newark to Phoenix.

Ireland is a lovely place, to be sure, but Hendrix’s owner is more than a bit mad that he flew 5,000 miles out of the way. She paid United $408, plus $160 for his crate, for him to go to Phoenix because she’s moving there.

While she was at home in Staten Island last week, she thought her dog would be arriving in Arizona at any moment. Instead, she got an unexpected call from United, reports CBS 2.

“Somebody called me and told me that there was something wrong with the dog, and that the dog was on its way to Ireland instead of to Phoenix,” she said.

Indeed, Hendrix took three flights in 24 hours: From Newark to Shannon, Ireland (seven hours), followed by two hours on the round there, then from Shannon to Newark (seven hours) and finally Newark to Phoenix (five hours). That’s a long time to be traveling.

United is giving the owner a refund, but that’s not appeasing Hendrix’s owner.

“The point was they put a live animal on a plane to go internationally and it was just not called for, it was not right,” she said of his long hours in his crate.

United hasn’t been able to explain how Hendrix ended up getting rerouted, but released a statement on his situation:

“United Airlines is committed on making travel safe and comfortable for pets. We are reviewing the circumstances and taking steps to prevent this from happening again.”